Star of Home and Away Jacqui Purvis kindly requested her father to leave his house so she could follow her ambition of making the moving short Voicemails Last Forever.
After the publication of the 16-minute short that is extremely close to Purvis’s heart, the well-known actress, who is most recognized for her role as Felicity “Flick” Newman in the hit soap opera, can now add writer and producer to her portfolio.
The story centers on two housemates, Ali (Purvis) and Robbie (Bradley Walsh), as they deal with the unexpected and terrible death of James (Adam Rowland), their best friend and partner, via suicide.
She had been working on the project for three years, and she had urged her father to leave their Melbourne house so that she could begin filming the movie there.
“We shot it in Melbourne at my dad’s house. He moved into a motel after we threw him out for four days, she claimed.
“The entire house was required.” He has been incredibly helpful and was glad to do it.
After spending $15,000 over two days to film her short film, Purvis revealed the formula for making the ideal one.
A very good short film is a really simple idea executed very simply, therefore mine isn’t this since I’ve learned so much, she added.
Voicemails Last Forever is rated adult and was uploaded on YouTube on September 14 in honor of RU OK? Day.
Purvis compared it to the world reading her journal, saying that she was inspired to write the movie after her buddy Walsh disclosed his thoughts of suicide.
Examining issues related to mourning and mental health, it emphasizes the notion that while experiences with mental health differ from person to person, one basic reality always holds true: no one is struggling alone.
“Those are extremely sensitive topics. Almost everyone has experienced grief in some capacity. It is my hope that viewers would find a connection with it,” Purvis stated.
“I hope it resonates with people and sparks conversation. Everyone struggles with mental health, therefore it’s critical for listeners to know how to handle this when someone approaches them for support. Mental health shouldn’t be taboo.
Since this first venture into a major role behind the camera, Purvis said she is now hooked on producing.
“I fell in love with producing. I’m obsessed with film and been involved from choosing the location to picking the music,” she said.
Raising money for the film through a GoFundMe page, Purvis soon realised filmmaking was “very expensive”.
“But I was able to pay everyone and that enabled me to get creatives who are at the top of their game and I ended up with an incredible crew,” she said.
Now back to normal programming with Home and Away, Purvis said working on the set of the short film was “very different” to the TV series.
“Being a new environment, everyone was super passionate, putting their heart and soul into it and sometimes you don’t have that with Home and Away because it’s such a machine, everyone’s been there for a while and it’s just a job,” she said.
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